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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.